The Supreme Court of the United States may have upheld the national health reform law, and, by default, the 2.3% medical device excise tax that will help support it. But the industry's battle to overturn the assessment marches on. This time, industry group AdvaMed enlisted Abiomed ($ABMD) Chairman, President and CEO Michael Minogue to testify before the House Committee on Small Business about the tax and the need to repeal it. He told committee members that two-thirds of the 7,000 medical device companies in the U.S. employ fewer than 20 people, with many breakthrough devices and diagnostics coming "from small, often venture capital-funded companies." The tax, if allowed to kick in as planned on Jan. 1, will damage these younger companies because they lose money for years as they try to move a product to market, Minogue explained. "This tax increases the time these struggling companies will be operating at a loss," he noted. "For some, it could truly be the difference between surviving and having to close their doors." Release